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Champions/Short 5
Jenn Solewish Jenn Solewish took a deep breath. As the queen of the planet’s largest faction, a lot of people depended on her. Failing wasn’t an option. She had to make this work, save the world from the incredibly powerful Void. But her kingdom and its allies would not be able to defeat the Void attack by themselves. They needed to work together with the other factions of the planet - everyone on Taris would have to participate in this. She Looked up at the wooden door in front of her. She heard yelling and shouting from behind the door. Beside her was her trusted bodyguard, Ashley Walling. As one of the Darkspeakers still loyal to the Forces of Justice, Walling had to prove herself quite a lot to Jenn. But she had Jenn’s trust, entirely. There was not a single person in the world that Jenn trusted more than Walling. Jenn gave Walling a glance, and Walling nodded. It was time. Jenn opened the door, entering a large hall. Several wooden tables had been put together in the middle of the hall, with people from all sorts of races and factions sitting around the tables, arguing loudly. Jenn and Walling walked over to the tables, carefully. A female ghoul walked over to Jenn, standing in front of her. Steadfast, Jenn and the ghoul stared at each other for a few seconds. The ghouls of The Stitchers were Jenn’s largest enemies. Their leader, the High Lich Ursell Aulenberg, performed disgusting magic. Returning the dead from their sleep was the most disrespectful thing Jenn could think of. These ghouls did not deserve to walk the same ground as she did. Walling gently pushed the ghoul aside, and the ghoul moved out of the way. They weren’t here to fight. Jenn walked up to the table, Walling beside her. She cleared her throat and called out, trying to get through to the arguing faction leaders around the table. “We are not here to fight. Not today. Remember that!” She called out, and the yelling died out a bit. Looking around, Jenn saw the High Lich she so hated. Ursell was sitting at the other end of the table, glaring at Jenn. Standing behind him were two heavily armed ghouls. Everyone had brought guards, it seemed. Next to Ursell was Barly Wovenskin, the warden of the world’s biggest prison. That was the one positive thing about The Stitchers: they kept these dangerous prisoners locked up instead of using them for their own winnings. And Barly Wovenskin had always been a good warden, even back when he was still alive. Ull Hagen was also sitting next to the High Lich. Ull led the rebellion of the Darkspeakers, which ultimatley ended up in a large group of the human-raven creatures mutineering and joining The Stitchers. They were betrayers, and Jenn held a deep hatred for Ull and his people. “Our differences will have to be put aside for now.” Jenn said, her eyes fixed on Ursell’s. “Our very world is at risk. If we don’t work together, we will all die.” Ursell placed his bony hands on the table, moving his decaying fingers around in circles. He spoke up: “My ghouls will fight the Void alongside your people. But this does not change anything between us, Solewish. I hope you know that.” Jenn nodded in agreement. “It changes absolutely nothing.” “I suggest we choose a neutral leader then.” Ursell suggested. “Someone to lead the fight against the Void. Someone unbiased.” Jenn nodded, and opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by the high-pitched voice of a Goblin. Jenn closed her eyes. She couldn’t stand that voice. “Yo, Telakk-une’s always been neutral. No faction drama for us.” It was High Tinker Esterne, the leader of the Telakk-une Cartel, a group of greedy Goblins, Komolacs and Ratlings, whose sole goal in life was to get goal and create dangerous machines. Definitely not the kind of people you would want leading anyone. “And our capital’s quite close to the Void Scar, so it’d-“ Esterne was cut off by a Pygmy sitting next to him. The chieftan of the Redhill Tribes of Rolling Hills, Blacni Robetooth: “Don’t call it that.” “What?” The Goblin replied, annoyed that he was interrupted. “‘Void Scar’. It’s the Westrand Canyon.” The Pygmies of Rolling Hills had already lost countless people when the Void began moving through the canyon, were many Pygmies used to live. “Well, excuse me, but last time I checked, it’s full of lethal purple stuff. I think that calls for a new name.” Esterne crossed his arms, and sat back in his chair. Jenn sighed. “High Tinker, I don’t think the Telakk-une is the kind of leader we’re looking for here.” Jenn had to play it nice. The Goblins made a lot of weapons, which her kingdom often bought. She couldn’t risk pissing them off. She turned her head, looking around. The Grand Druid of The Protecters were sitting near her. The big plant-monster was sitting calmly, tending to a bird living on his head. He was covered in plants, with birds and insects flying around him, seemingly living in and on his body. It was disgusting. And these plant-monsters were another enemy of Jenn Solewish’s kingdoms. They stood in the way of progress, wanting to ‘protect the nature’. Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made. Next to the Grand Druid was Sayyd Tender, the newly chosen leader of the united shamans. Sayyd was one of the only human shamans in the entire world, and instead of using these powers to aid the Forces of Justice, he had turned on them and joined the plant-monsters. Another betrayal. Jenn turned her attention away from them and to Lauren Vandak instead. She was sitting in the corner of the room, arms crossed and seemingly asleep. She had no guards with her, sitting there all by herself. She was the leader of The Trawlers, another faction to betray the Forces of Justice. At least they were neutral and still willing to trade with Jenn’s kingdoms. “Vandak.” Jenn said, loud enough to hopefully wake her up. “What about you? Do you think you could take on the leadership of this expedition?” Vandak opened her eyes, briefly looking around at the many faction leaders in the room. “No.” She simply said and closed her eyes again. “Well, do you-“ Jenn began, cut off by another Goblin voice. “Ya choose som’ stupid pacifist fishe’men over ma pirates?!” Marlin Rustbeard called out. The Captain of the Rustfleet Pirates was the most annoying person in the world, in Jenn’s opinion. His people rarely attacked The Forces of Justice directly, but they did take a lot of hostages. An incredibly big nuisance. “Yes, your help will be needed elsewhere.” Jenn went diplomatictly. They needed the Rustfleet’s ships. “Your brother.” Lauren Vandak said, before the Rustfleet pirate could respond. “Jack.” Jenn Solewish’ heart sank. Vandak knew of Jack - he was still alive. Jenn hadn’t heard from her brother since he left the Forces of Justice. She had felt betrayed at first, but now she just missed him. She wanted to see him again. She could never repair the damage between them, but she could at least apoligize. And hopefully he would accept an apology. “I don’t know what all of the fuss is about.” A raspy voice said. A human dressed in purple robes stood up. Next to him was King Nathaniel and Ek’telan, the two leaders of Al’Kanaar, an island nation yet to declare alligiance to any side. The purple-dressed man continued, walked over behind Nathaniel. “We just have to let the Void take over. It can give us powers that we never believed possible. Incredible powers!” A cultist. Great. “How’d he get in here?” Jenn whispered to Walling, who just shrugged. “You want us to let our people die?” Thnnk Knnghk, leader of the Sosqa, snorted out. “Yes! They will find peace and you will get powers beyond comprehension!” The cultist said, sounding downright insane. Jenn saw Ursell whisper something to his ghoul guards. One of them made his way towards the cultist. “I’ll show you.” The cultist said, placing his hand on King Nathaniel’s shoulders. “Look!” His hands turned people, causing Nathaniel to turn his head in distress. “Give in!” The cultist said, as the ghoul guard began moving faster. Two of Nathaniel’s trickster guards took a step back, visibly disturbed. And with good reason. Nathaniel’s shoulders began turning bright purple, a pink smoke starting to form around the cultist’s hands. “Give in!!” The cultist repeated, this time louder. “Of course not!” Nathaniel shouted, between the pain of being claimed by the void. “What is this?!” The Trickster king, Ek’telan, stood up and along with the ghould guard, grabbed the cultist. But the cultist grabbed Nathaniel’s shoulders tighter, speeding up the process. Nathaniel screamed, as the trickster king and ghoul guard began fighting to get the cultist away. But they were too slow. King Nathaniel of Al’Kanaar turned bright purple, then a darker shade of purple and then vanished into purple smoke and dust, claimed by the Void. The area around the cultist was covered in purple and pink smoke. “What…” King Ek’telan stuttered. The cultust placed his hands on Ek’telan’s head and the process began again, this time quicker. “Someone do something!!” Jenn yelled. Everyone was in shock, nobody knowing how to handle a cultist of the Void. A ball of fire flew across the room, hitting the cultist in the head. He was knocked back, into the wall, his face on fire. Sayyd, the shaman, had taken care of it. He may have the powers of the void, but he was still a human. Ek’telan was on the floor, breathing but distressed. He had just been handed the leadership of Al’Kanaar, involuntarily. “I think,” Jenn said, composing herself. “we all see what we’re up against. Let’s lay down our weapons, and take the fight to the Void Scar. For Taris!” Category:Champions